Three young girls dressed as Elsa, one of the princesses in Disney's Frozen, run toward one of their candy destinations last weekend during the Fourth Annual Sandy Hook Halloween Walk. Girls in the light blue gowns seemed to be everywhere for a few hours on October 25, as children dressed up to give their costumes a trial run (literally, in this case) in a daytime event in Sandy Hook Center. Nearly two dozen local businesses welcomed visitors through their doors. Tonight it's time for the rest of the town to celebrate Halloween, with costumed residents visiting neighbors. The largest contingency, however, will certainly find their way to the Borough to see what Main Street residents are offering by way of decorations and treats this year.

This past weekend the Newtown Bridle Lands Association (NBLA) held its annual Frost on the Pumpkin Hunter Pace across trails, fields, protected open space and private property. Thank you landowners for keeping this rural tradition alive. NBLA was founded in 1978 while the Fairfield County Hounds (FCH) still called Newtown home. Many FCH members founded NBLA, then called Newtown Bridle Lanes Association which more accurately reflected the original mission of the group; to protect riding trails in this fast-developing town. In fact, in the next ten years, Newtown’s landscape was 33 percent covered in development. As riders in the town dwindled, leaving for more open and greener pastures, the NBLA’s mission expanded to save not only riding lanes but open space for everyone.

At Every Turn, a two-part choral piece with text the Reverend Gregory J. Wismar, former pastor of Christ the King Lutheran Church in Newtown, and music by Professor David vonKampen of the University of Kansas, was published in April by Concordia Publishing House. The musical tune is called “Newtown.” Every tune has a story, Rev Wismar explained. “In church music shorthand, every tune in a hymnal has a name, and there is an art and science to those names,” he said. The melody “Newtown” is rooted in this place, a response to the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012. It is a simple melody, said Rev Wismar, and in that simplicity lies its beauty. The words are inspired by the Bible passage Romans 14:8, and were written with that tragic day in mind, he said. Although Rev Wismar had retired the previous year, he was closely affected by 12/14.

When all is sung and done, owners of the soon-to-be-released original soundtrack of The 12.14 Foundation’s "A Rockin’ Midsummer Night’s Dream" will be able to sample from either the “Moon” or “Stars” cast CDs, or they can enjoy all he subtle diversities between the two. Over several days in recent weeks, dozens of young cast members, the professional leads, and members of the pit orchestra joined Director Michael Unger, who adapted the Shakespeare work into a contemporary musical, and composer/lyricist Eric Svejcar at Carriage House Studios in Stamford to complete recording for the anticipated holiday season double CD release.